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Celtic Wicca today is a very powerful blend of religious thought, philosophy, and magic derived from many sources both old and new. Celtic Wicca refers to all variations of Wicca which derive the majority of their mythology and ritual from Celtic Druidical sources. The other attributes which are common to Celtic Wiccan Traditions are intensive study and use of elemental and tree magic; deep respect for fairy folk, tree spirits, elementals, and all of nature; and preserving the importance of traditional Celtic values such as honor, courage, truth, strength, wisdom, and eloquence. The great heroes, heroines, kings, and queens of the Celts were as noted for their skill as musicians, poets, singers, dancers, artisans, and wise leaders as they were for their strength, courage, and skill at arms. Although there is still much debate about evidence of Celtic Matriarchal societies, the women were apparently treated with much more respect than they are today. Celtic women were capable of becoming warriors, blacksmiths, priestesses, military generals, and/or rulers in their own right. Celtic Wicca today is a combination of Druidism, Hinduism, pre-Celtic Fairy Faith, and many other sources, but it is based on the ancient, proto-IndoEuropean tribal religions. The basic concepts of worshipping the creative entities as a Goddess, Mother Earth, (the goddess of birth, plants, and creation) and a God, Father Sky, (the horned god of death, animals, and the hunt) through ritual practice is as old as religion itself. The earliest traceable sources are proto-Indo-European tribes near the Black Sea and Sumerian mysticism near what is modern day Iraq, but traditional myths sometimes put Wicca's roots in religions practiced by the seafaring empire of Atlantis. The pentagram is a symbol of virtue and self restraint which has come to be accepted as the primary religious symbol of most branches of Wicca today.

Celtic Wicca often uses it even though it's origins are not Celtic. Some Sumerian traditions speak of the Elder Gods as being visitors from a star system in the pleides constellation. When asked where they were from, the Gods simply pointed to the star. Thus the pentagram became a symbol of our covenant with these gods to guard the ancient portals against the destructive forces from other realms who would destroy or subdue this world. Today Celtic Wicca uses the upright (a single point upwards) pentagram as a symbol of adherence to the Wiccan Rede. This is essentially the same five pointed star that the Freemasons chose to put on most of the national symbols of the United States of America. They realized that it represented spirit maintaining control over the other four elemental energies of earth, air, fire, and water within as well as without. This does not imply that we try to subdue natural forces, but rather seek to find ethical means of guiding them both without and within. We use the original interwoven form of this star as a symbol of our certain knowledge that people can and should use the will of their spirit not only to lead elemental forces for constructive purposes, but also to channel all natural urges and emotions into healthy avenues of expression. We don't try to suppress sexual urges, anger, etc., because that is unhealthy and self destructive. Instead we give our passion to our mate (or the healthy search for one), our anger to injustice, our fear to wise precautions, our sadness to our mother Goddess who soothes it and uses the energy for healing, and our loving joy to all the world! Separation of life energies into seven distinct elements was taught and practiced by the proto-IndoEuropean tribes. Such elemental separations were implied in Sumerian Mythology, but the credit is usually given to the Indo-European descendants, the Greeks, who publicly discussed such mysteries at length. The Celts, also descendants of these IndoEuropean tribes, appear to have kept the original beliefs in the seven elements of earth, sea, stone, cloud, wind, sun, and the Gods or spirit, but due to their love of teaching things in sets of threes, they often spoke in terms of sea, land and sky. Today Druids and Celtic Wiccans use systems of 3, 5, 7 or 9 elements, but the basic principle and magickal uses are the same.

Sumerian and Egyptian mysticism had an influence on Celtic Druids as their explorers and colonists traded culture with others, but the degree of this influence is unknown. The earliest written accounts of a spring ritual mating of the God and Goddess, while inhabiting the bodies of a priest and priestess to ensure fertility and prosperity for the year was in Sumeria and the pentagram almost certainly comes from there. The Greeks were often neighbors to the Celts and were very interested in Sumerian and Egyptian mysticism, so this was probably one of the major sources of such cultural exchanges. Druidism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Teutonic Religions, Elusinian, Orphic, and Roman Mysteries and many others, developed concepts of reincarnation from their ancestral, proto-IndoEuropean religions. Reincarnation was viewed as a means of learning and growing until no further lessons from this environment were required. The Druids generally taught that it was much more likely to be reborn in a direct descendant. It is uncertain whether this implies some form of belief in genetic memory or whether they simply thought it would provide a more convenient environment for the soul to continue their education. Druids also believed in transmigration into animals or trees even after having lived a human life. Many modern Wiccans believe that transmigration would be counterproductive in most cases (there are exceptions to everything), but consider it likely that plant or animal forms may have been used as a stage of growth for developing the spirit prior to the first human incarnation. Buddhism is an evolution of Hinduism and most anthropologists believe that they both evolved from the same pre-historic IndoEuropean religions as Druidism, so there should be no surprise that we have much in common with them. I am proud to say that modern Wiccans accept what wisdom they can learn from many sources including Buddhist and Hindu teachers. The more I learn about Hindu teachings of Dharma, Karma, and many Gods and Goddesses with a single divine source, the more convinced I am that Hindu teachings have directly or indirectly contributed nearly as much to what is modern Wicca as the teachings of the ancient Celts. In the areas of philosophy, ethics, and reincarnation, Hinduism and the ancient Vedic scriptures are a more direct and far older source for what we teach than any other that can be documented. Even the oldest dates ascribed to the poetic rendering of the "Charge of the Goddess" in Aradia are quite recent compared to these ancient texts. Besides, the original form given by Aradia would be considered completely outside of what most Wiccans consider acceptable ethics or how they interpret the Wiccan Rede, but Hindu teachings of ahimsa (non-harm) are in perfect accordance with them.

Buddhist concepts about dharma, karma, reincarnation, and progression through multiple lifetimes are also generally accepted by Wiccans except that we usually have a more joyful and optimistic view of life than that portrayed by some Buddhist teachers. Some Buddhists seek to reach enlightenment in order to escape the painful cycle of life and death. We consider life a great privilege rather than a necessary discomfort and we enjoy life tremendously, but we also seek enlightenment in spite of the fact that it will bring new challenges on some other level and end this cycle of reincarnation that we enjoy so much. Many different religious and magickal traditions have contributed over the centuries to the various folk religions we loosely term "Wiccan", but the basic concept of coming closer to our loving God and Goddess through living in harmony with nature and all aspects of ourselves remains the same.